Rare fruit fly caught at Detroit Metro Airport

Caper fruit fly larvae. (Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

A rare kind of fruit fly has been caught by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists at Detroit Metro Airport.

In June, CBP said live larvae were found in fresh caper flowers. They said a traveller coming from Italy wouldn’t answer questions about the flowers and was sent for a baggage check.

The larvae were identified as “caper fruit fly”. In the last two decades, it was intercepted one other time in Florida. The type of fly was confirmed earlier in November.

“Our CBP officers and agriculture specialists work hand-in-hand to stop potential threats before they have potential to cause economic damage,” said Fadia Pastilong, port director.

“Pests like this may be the next introduced species of concern if they go undetected.”

The fly normally eats capers but is amongst a family of fruit flies that are the most destructive agricultural pests in the world, CBP said. Those flies include the Mediterranean fruit fly, Oriental fruit fly, melon fly and the Mexican fruit fly.

Travelers are asked to declare all food and agricultural items when entering the U.S. A full list of items that are allowed into the country is available here.